Traffic gridlock in Lakewood Wednesday?

LAKEWOOD (APP) – Township and county officials are preparing for two days of a potential traffic nightmare, as a protest against the proposed elimination of courtesy busing for students appears to be on.

Officers with the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office will assist the Lakewood Police Department in coordinating traffic at large intersections along Routes 9 and 88 and elsewhere in town, Sheriff Michael G. Mastronardy said.

The protest’s organizers want parents of nonpublic school students who stand to lose courtesy busing to drive their children to classes today and on Thursday as a “drill” for what may happen in September, when the nearly $4 million practice is due to be eliminated for those in grades four to 12.

Last month, the Lakewood Board of Education eliminated all courtesy busing from the 2014-15 budget as a way to meet tax hike caps set by the state. Courtesy busing for kindergarten to third-grade students was subsequently brought back.

Rabbi Yisroel Schenkolewski, a longtime political and community leader in Lakewood who wrote a letter last week calling for the protest on behalf of Iggud Hamosdos — a consortium of private schools in Lakewood — could not be reached for comment Tuesday.